China Air-Connectivity Analyses

Fact: The majority of new air service between China and the US will be driven by Chinese, not American, carriers. Today, more than half of all current China-US passengers are carried on B-registered (read: Chinese) airliners. That percentage will increase to over 75% in the next three years.

With the increasing number of new nonstop flights from more Chinese cities to the USA, developing seamless connectivity from the gateway portal airport to your airport will be essential in attracting this new travel segment. But it also means more opportunities for large non-hubsite airports in the USA to gain nonstop flights from the Middle Kingdom.

China NiHao™ experts, including from Boyd Group International, will prepare an analysis of the connectivity-efficiency your local airport experiences with key points in China. In addition, we can assist airports and communities in exploring outreach for new nonstop from China, as well.

Developing A Targeted China Air Access Outreach. Today, most of the air service outreach in regard to China-US service tends to be buried in mystery and a search for 关系 – guanxi with contacts in China. That’s great. But it tends to result in a passive air service program.

Relying on our expertise in the Chinese air marketplace, our approach is pro-active – identifying specific potential nonstop markets and the target carriers of interest. Waiting for the feelers from the airline headquarters in Beijing does not showcase your community.

Identifying The Targets And Implementing Outreach. There are at least six more Chinese airlines acquiring intercontinental fleets and looking for markets of opportunity. The US has prime targets – and it will be large and secondary communities that may be in the expansion cross-hairs of these new airlines – if they do two things. The first is to be able to demonstrate that they understand and value Chinese business, and the second is to be able to showcase exactly how a specific new market makes sense for the Chinese carrier.

The emerging Chinese air transportation system is very different from that of the US or the rest of the globe. The extraordinary size of most population centers means that point-to-point service within China is far less dependent on the need for “flow” – connecting traffic. This means that the future for US airports will be in recruiting nonstop service directly from large population centers, such as Changsha, Zhengzhou, Hefei, and others.

The BGI approach is to first identify where there are current or developing communities of business interest between the regions served by a US airport, and similar ones in China. From that, we develop a contact and outreach strategy for the client.

Boyd Group International, partnering with China Ni Hao, has the most extensive database of China-US air traffic forecasts. What sets us apart is that we identify key potential nonstop markets that will have potential for large and mid-size US points. One part of the strategy may be to incubate connecting service from an already-served US gateway.

The second reason is that this audit will reveal where strategic and tactical activities are needed, such as working with incumbent network carriers in regard to flight connectivity, and – most importantly – working with the connecting hub airport to assure that signage and assistance is in place to guide Chinese travelers.

The final report will be a complete China-Connectivity Blueprint for your airport to move ahead of other competing communities. We would note that this program will examine and analyze all international connectivity, and include recommendations for these options as well.